The Hills Have Eyes

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The Hills Have Eyes

R

1977

1h 23m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

69%

Tomatometer

29 Reviews

54%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Wes Craven's cult classic about cannibalistic mountain folk on the trail of stranded vacationers in the arid Southwest.

Critics Consensus

When it's not bludgeoning the viewer with its more off-putting, cruder elements, The Hills Have Eyes wields some clever storytelling and a sly sense of dark humor.

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Variety Staff

Variety

07/22/2008

A satisfying piece of pulp.

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Derek Adams

Time Out

02/09/2006

A heady mix of ironic allegory and seat-edge tension.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

09/10/2003

2.5/4

Craven's latent sick streak gets a major workout here, and the rudest shocks seem to center around the "good" family's parental figures.

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Alan Jones

Radio Times

Oct 2

4/5

The introduction of the extraordinary-looking Michael Berryman to the roster of unpleasant characters only adds extra punch to the charnel-house terror invoked.

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Max Allen

Horror Movie Talk

Aug 22

8/10

This movie is dark, gritty, and tugs at your nerves from almost every conceivable angle... This movie pulls no punches, attacking the family dynamic from all sides. No one is safe, and all shots are below the belt.

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

01/06/2022

3/4

works as a taut thriller, but it also leaves plenty of room for political and ideological tunneling, if only for its horrific inversion of American family values

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Jack F

@MovieFan111 Nov 28

It's a Craven classic. I really liked this one because of the awesome and genius concept for a horror movie. Warning, to not watch the second one.

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Harold C.

@ChambersContent Nov 12

A gritty, low-budget shocker that turns the desert into a nightmare of survival and instinct. It’s simple but smart, using sound and atmosphere to create real unease rather than cheap jumps. The performances and pacing stay grounded, and the tension builds in bursts that feel earned. It’s rough around the edges, yet what shines through is the filmmaker’s early brilliance — proof that even with limited means, Wes Craven could make horror feel dangerously alive.

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Jelisije J

Oct 22

A family gets stranded in a desert and must survive a group of cannibals seeking to eat, breed, and kill them

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Eye C

@ECinc Oct 14

A seventies-era film that generates more anxiety because of the four-legged animals than the two-legged ones. A family moves to California, and during the trip, the patriarchal father insists on stopping to see a silver mine and "dig his claws into" whatever he can find. What he doesn't know, and also refuses to heed, is that near the mine there is something inhuman that could put everyone accompanying him at risk. As I understand it, this is a cult classic categorized as a B-movie, and while it's not a masterpiece, it doesn't descend into bad taste as I expected. Full of period clichés, it's the classic horror film where you shout at the TV: "DON'T GO IN THERE, THEY'RE GOING TO POKE YOUR EYE OUT!" and "SHUT UP, KID, THEY'RE GOING TO HEAR YOU!" and things like that. The funny thing is that the hero of the movie is the dog, and I'm not speaking figuratively; the dog literally helps his owners avoid being completely murdered.

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Caleb L

Oct 5

A really good if bleak film from master of horror Wes Craven

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Gabrielle H.

@Gabriellehou Sep 9

An absolute classic and super camp horror film; horror wouldn’t be the same without this movie. Such a staple.

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Synopsis

Wes Craven's cult classic about cannibalistic mountain folk on the trail of stranded vacationers in the arid Southwest.

Director: Wes Craven
Producer: Peter Locke, Kurt Tarvis
Screenwriter: Wes Craven
Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment, Vestron Video, Image Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Blood Relations Co.
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 1977, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 23m
Sound Mix: Mono

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